CHERUB: New Kids On The Block
by JcfMaf78
Summary: This is CHERUB, but there are some different kids this time around. New kids, Junan and Stephan are in for a shock when they join CHERUB and have to do the usual routine for new cherubs, more than usual CHERUBS are anyway...
1. Chapter 1: Meet The New Kids

**Chapter 1**

Junan and Stephan just got back to the care home after a late night at the cinema with some girls. "Well, you screwed that up big time you knob." Junan moaned at Stephan but secretly he didn't care he only had love for one girl, at his care home, he only went on the date so Stephan could get off with the girl he fancied.

"Well you had the bright idea of grabbing Lucy's arse on the way out, you idiot." Stephan replied sternly. Stephan was a stocky 12 year old boy, who was pretty strong for his age, but his one weakness was that he was quite slow. He had brown eyes and brownish hair, and quite a fair face. Junan on the other hand was an average weight 12 year old, but was quite unfit; he has black shoulder length hair and brown eyes, and, what some would describe as, a baby nose.

Junan and Stephan just got home from a date at the cinema, "Junan, Stephan, my office, NOW!" Came a voice from behind them.

"Bollocks... Busted." Muttered Junan to Stephan, he murmured in agreement.

"What the bloody hell do you two think you're playing at?" Said Bill Carr, the social worker at the care home, a man whom both Junan and Stephan hated a lot. "Jesus Christ guys, you guys are in enough trouble as it is with school, at this rate you guys are gunna end up in prison together. Junan, you're on toilet duty for a week, Stephan, you're looking after the little kids." Junan looked disgusted by his punishment, but knew better than to talk whilst being told off, unfortunately, Stephan didn't.

"Sir, You know how much I hate those god damn brats. You can make me do toilet duty, but sir, not those flippin' screamers," he moaned. But Bill just gave Stephan a stern look. Then Bill gestured towards the stairs so Junan and Stephan headed for their rooms.

"That bitch set you straight" laughed Junan as they were going up the stairs.

"Two weeks Junan" yelled Bill from his office

"Shut it, you'll wake everyone" Junan loudly said back. Junan and Stephan were laughing about how crap their night had been, when they heard mumbling. They could vaguely make out what the person was saying

"Zara, I'm telling you, these two guys are perfect, a bit out of shape and that, but nothing basic training can't handle, seriously Zara, these are the dudes for us... Okay Zara, See you in the morning. Yeah, bye." Then they heard a phone snap shut.

"That came from Jess' room," whispered Stephan. Jessica Jones, she was a 13 year old girl, she was extremely beautiful, she had a nicely figured face, and a nice body, she was 5 foot 7, also the girl Junan fancied like hell.

Junan and Stephan got back into they're room, brushed their teeth in the en suite bathroom, stripped down to their boxers and clambered into they're old tacky beds. "We'll ask Jess about the call in morning, but man is she fit." Stephan said, then he felt a solid object hit the side of his head "Shit dude, what the hell was that for, That really hurt man,"

"Ever since I've come to this god forsaken house, I've been trying to get her to like me, she's mine, so just let me work my charm on her, yeah?" Junan replied, he sounded pretty annoyed.


	2. Chapter 2: Goodbye Carehome

**Chapter 2**

The alarm went off at 9 AM "Shut the hell up, I need my sleep." Junan moaned as he threw a clumsy fist at the clock and crushed it against the wall. Then a pillow hit him in the face.

"Get up you lazy git, foster parents here, Zara As-something." Stephan said. As soon as he said this, Junan remembered last night. _Okay Zara, see you in the morning... yeah, bye._ "Zara..." Junan thought. He jumped to life when he realised the full story, he grabbed his skinny jeans and old Rise Against t-shirt off the floor, quickly pulled them on and squirted himself with deodorant, then Junan and Stephan legged it down the stairs.

"Mornin' Jess," Junan panted, "can me and Stephan talk to you for a moment please." There was a brief pause and everyone around the breakfast table stared at the 3 people. "In private." Junan said sternly, and Stephan, Junan and Jess headed for the living room.

"What's this about guys?" she enquired.

"Just we heard you on the phone to some Zara lady last night, and you said 'see you in the morning' and she's here, what's going on?" Stephan asked.

Junan thought for a moment, and a wave of depression came over him "...You're not getting fostered are you?" He felt sad just thinking about the most important person in his life going, forever.

"Yes, well, you are as well, look, it'll all be explained later, just go listen through Bill bloody Carr's door." Then she winked slyly at the two best friends. They walked out of the living room, Jess headed back to the breakfast room, and took abuse from the other kids about having a quick threesome, but she just gave them the finger and said coldly "Get stuffed, you twats."

But Junan and Stephan carried on to Bill's office door and placed their ears against it, listening intently. The voices were slightly muffled but they could hear what Zara and Bill were saying.

"Mrs Asker, are you sure you can handle these 2, I mean Junan and Stephan are hard work, good kids, but just have a very big naughty streak." Bill said sounding quite surprised.

"Everyone loves a couple of rebels Mr Carr, and I'm sure I can put these 2 in their place, but please, tell me about Jessica Jones?" Zara Asker Said Kindly

"Amazing kid, smart, funny, helpful, bright, everything you look for in a teenager." Mr Carr said proudly, maybe boasting a little.

"Okay, where are the forms, sir, I'd like to foster these 3 children." Zara asked sweetly.

"Right here, there you go, sign away" Mr Carr said sounding relieved to have the two most annoying kids in the home off his back. Junan and Stephan headed back to the breakfast table with ear to ear grins on both their faces.

"This is amazing!" Stephan exclaimed, and Junan was so speechless he just nodded enthusiastically in agreement. The two friends sat down and ate they're toast as quick as they could, then they sprinted up the stairs to pack, they zoomed past Jess' room, but they could see that she had already packed. They grabbed their suitcases, and were so excited they just chucked their clothes into the suitcase without folding them. Mrs Shelley, a short stocky but extremely kind and tolerant woman, stood in their doorway and tutted.

"Boys never fold do they, seriously you two, you should learn, so Miss Jones and I here will help you pack, Miss Jones, you help Junan, I'll help Stephan." Junan's grin got even wider when he heard that Jess was helping him pack, it would take them ages to pack all his stuff, it'd give him a bit of time to get to know her more and get closer with her.

About 10 minutes later, Mrs Shelley stood up with Stephan, "Righty ho, that's us down, help me lug your crap downstairs please Stephan."

This was exactly the thing Junan wanted to happen; it gave him a chance to be alone with Jess and say what he wanted to say, "Jess, I've been meaning to tell you this for a long time, It's just I think..." Junan was really nervous, he couldn't believe what he was doing, "I think you're beautiful in every way and I love you, it isn't some stupid crush or anything, I love you, and I mean it I _love_ you." Junan couldn't believe what he just said, it was better than what he had in his head anyway. But now he felt like an idiot, and he felt weak for saying it with his back to her, but he need to hide the fact he was shaking so bad.

"Junan, Stand Up, Close your eyes and turn around." Jess said, in a soft voice, Junan followed these instructions, and just stood there with his eyes close, he didn't know what was going on, but then he felt someone get close him, he felt some lips touch his, he wrapped his arms around Jess, she did the same, they just stood they're for about 30 seconds snogging, before Stephan walked in on them, and burst out laughing. Junan felt majorly embarrassed, but it was the best time he'd had in his life, he loved every second of it, and wished he could do it again, know he knew, he loved Jess a lot more than he thought he did.


	3. Chapter 3: The Explaination

**Chapter 3**

"Come on you two, get those tongues away from each other and lets live the high life in a foster home" Stephan yelled through the door, he didn't care that he just told everyone him and Jess had just been snogging.

Stephan was helping Junan take his stuff downstairs whilst Jess had gone to her room to fetch her suitcases, "So, Casanova, tell us how it all happened, with you and your girlfriend, popping out babies next, yeah?" Junan couldn't take anymore, he swung the suitcase round into Stephan's stomach, hard, and Stephan doubled over coughing and wheezing.

"Listen, dick face, shut the hell up, it was a spur of the moment thing, and Jess isn't like that, she wouldn't be shagging people, especially not someone like me, at her age!" Junan Screamed. Everyone had run out by now too see the commotion, and everyone just stood there gobsmacked. Junan just grabbed the suitcases Stephan was carrying too and paced out to the car, slammed them down, stormed back inside. He counted to 10 to cool off, and it worked, this time. He slowly walked in to Jess' room and he now felt happy, instead of depressed, just being near Jess made him happy, he offered to carry Jess' heavier things out to the car, and everyone was too busy making sure Stephan was okay to notice Jess and Junan walking out to the car,

They put everything in the boot, fitted it in just right, and Junan just stood there thinking about what he had done, but all that disappeared when Jess, unexpectedly, came over and kissed him briefly on the lips. He couldn't help himself, he just had to ask "Jess, would you like to go out with me?" He felt silly; he knew that she could do better than him. But Jess just stood there, finally she replied

"Junan, I would love to be your girlfriend," and she pulled him into a hug and they stood there leaning on the car, snogging for about two minutes when Zara came out, and pretended not to see them snogging until they realised she was there.

"Well, Junan, you can really pack a punch, and that's just what we need." This confused Junan. _Just what who need?_

Then Stephan came out, looking a bit injured, but he seemed to be getting over it well. Junan rushed over to him, "I'm so sorry man, I really didn't mean to hit you, I just got a bit angry, over reacted, dude you gotta understand."

Stephan just smiled, "I shouldn't have said those things about Jess, it's my fault, don't worry about it."

Junan felt relieved that his best friend didn't hate him, he'd known Stephan all his life, Stephan lived with Junan all his life, even though they weren't brothers, Stephan's parents abandoned him as a baby, so Junan's family took him in, but they fire claimed both of Junan's parents when him and Junan we're 8, they've lived at the care home ever since.


	4. Chapter 4: Welcome To CHERUB

**Chapter 4**

Junan, Stephan and Jess clambered into the car, Junan and Stephan sat next to each other facing Jess. Stephan noticed someone sitting in the driver's seat, he had his hair tied back into a ponytail and Stephan saw he had an ear ring and was quite muscular. "Ewart, we're good to go." Zara said as she strapped herself in next to the driver. "Jess, these two are probably wondering what the hell is going on, if you would be so kind as to explain to them what we do."

"Yeah sure," Jess replied then she turned back to Stephan and Junan "Well, first things first, I'm not Jess Jones" Junan looked at Jess, kind of puzzled. "I'm called Jessica Downes, I'm part of a British intelligence organisation called CHERUB, which Zara here is chairwoman of. Basically, we're a load of kids trained with all kinds of martial arts skills. If you got in to a fight with us, you're screwed basically, also, we're all above average IQ, and we're taught to be quick thinking. It's pretty confusing, but you'll understand it all when we get to campus, but remember, it's a top secret organisation, only some members of parliament know about it. So you can't tell _anyone_ about it, outside of campus okay?" The other two nodded in agreement. The rest of the car journey went on as if they were normal kids, talking about things they saw on T.V. and things they read. But everything came to a halt when they arrived at campus.

Stephan's jaw dropped when he saw the U-shaped building, the lake, the amazing football pitches, this is the kind of place he wanted to live. Junan was the same, but he managed to get two words out, these words were "Holy crap." But he was so out of breath you could hardly hear them.

"C'mon boys, this is just the outside," said Jess as she took Junan's hand. But Stephan's attention got totally distracted when he saw someone walk past, a girl.

"Who the hell is that? She's fit, seriously." Stephan said, he couldn't take his eyes off her for one second.

"That's Connie Davis, pretty clever, even by Cherub standards." Jess replied, then she added, "Oh yeah by the way, you'll be living opposite her here." Stephan's face just turned into a massive grin, you could tell what he was thinking. Something like _I'm gonna get off with her._

"Where will I be living, do you know?" Junan asked.

"Oh yeah," Jess said as if she just remembered, "next to Stephan, opposite me. You guys will love the rooms, I'll give you a tour later if you want." Junan and Stephan both nodded and thanked Jess, then they turned to go grab their bags. "Oh no, leave them, one of the care takers is on his way over to bring them to your rooms." Stephan shrugged and walked follow Jess, but Junan ran after Jess and placed his hand in hers as they walked on to a large, newly decorated, modern looking building. They walked in and the receptionist lady, who was sitting at a lovely grand oak desk, she looked in her 50s and had her hair tied up into a bun.

"Hey Jess, these the new recruits then?" The secretary said kindly.

"Yeah," she gestured at Stephan, "this is Stephan and this is Junan."

"Hey Junan, Hey Stephan" The secretary said warmingly.

"Yo."

"'Sup"

Then everyone said _Bye_ to the secretary and she replied with the same word, and the three headed to the lift. They arrived at floor twenty-two and they walked out into a beautifully painted corridor. Decorated with very uncommon patterns. Just then Junan nudged Stephan, "Yo Steph, mate, there's your chick," He laughed. But Stephan just walked right over to Connie and they started talking, then Connie grabbed his hand and they walked into her room. Junan and Jess both laughed quite hard. "He doesn't even know her, crap, he's way too confident. But he can do it, I'll give him that." Junan smiled. Then Jess and him carried onto to his room. When he got inside his mouth formed an "o". It was huge, and he had the biggest en suite bathroom he'd ever seen. A really nice beige shower and marble bathtub. Then he walked back into his room, and he had a double bed, which had on it a nice thick duvet and white plumped up pillows. His bedroom was an L-shape with a bathroom coming out of the corner, then he walked around and he had a medium sized oak desk, with a computer on it and he also had an envelope on there, so he walked over to it, and opened it, inside was a letter and a mobile phone. Inside was a letter that said _Welcome to Cherub Junan Jacobs, please accept out gift of a new mobile phone, if you could please place your old phone in this envelope and get your guide to escort you too the chairwoman's office as soon as possible please._ "That can wait," Junan grinned as placed his new phone back on the desk and him and Jess just lay on his bed, snogging.


	5. Chapter 5: Time To Visit Zara

**Chapter 5**

Junan knocked on Connie's door, and spoke loudly so that Stephan could hear him "Oi, Romeo, go check out your room, Jess has the key here, you'll get plenty of time to snog Connie up after we've gone to talk to Zara." A couple of seconds later, Stephan and Connie stepped out into the corridor looking slightly out of breath, "You two look like you've been doing more than snogging in there..." Junan laughed at them. Stephan look puzzled at Junan's envelope in his hand, "Welcome letter." Junan answered Stephan's question in his head.

"You do know if you two are having under aged sex, that's enough to get kicked off campus, Connie you know that, and Stephan, try not to screw it up before it's started, eh?" Jess said warningly, as she handed Stephan the key to his room, and pointed at his door. Stephan headed to his room, placed the key in the lock and turned.

When he opened his door, the first thing he said was "Sweet Jesus, this is amazing, and I'm living here?" Jess nodded at him, "HELL YEAH BABY!"

"Yeah mate, hurry up, get the envelope off your desk round the corner, we gotta go meet Zara." Junan said hurriedly.

"What the crap dude? You can't rush me. Look at this room, I need to explore it first." Stephan replied, obviously still wowed by his room.

"C'mon Columbus, you can explore it later, just grab the envelope and read it on the way," Jess yawned.

Stephan nodded reluctantly, and walked around to his desk "Junan, I have a laptop, I always wanted one. Oh yeah!" Stephan stated happily. Then Stephan grabbed the envelope off his desk and legged it back round to the other 3.

"I know, my rooms exactly the same, and probably so is everyone else's on this block." Junan replied, clearly bored with Stephan's excitement.

They headed down the corridor towards the lift, and Stephan started reading the letter "Sweet, new phone," he grinned.

"What did you get?" Junan asked, "I got a Sony Ericsson W595."

"Ace, mines a Sony Ericsson W200i." Stephan replied, grinning.

"Dude, why's Connie here by the way, no offence Connie, but it just says me, Stephan and our guide, which is Jess." Junan asked.

"None taken" Connie replied "But you brought your girlfriend, why can't Stephan bring his?"

"Yeah," Stephan replied nervously, everyone could tell something was up as soon as Connie said that. Then they heard the lift make a _ping_ sound and the doors parted, it wasn't at ground floor yet, it was at floor 15. A beautiful girl walked in, blonde hair, looked about twelve.

"Hey Sienna," Jess said.

"Hey Jess," She replied, she had a english accent. "Oh, the new recruits here then?"

"Yeah, this is Junan, my boyfriend," this was followed by a _'Sup_ from Junan "And this is Stephan." This was followed by a _Alright_ from Stephan.

By now, the girls were deep in conversation. So Stephan whispered in Junan's ear "She is totally hot, I _have _to get my hands up her top." As he said this, Junan burst out laughing, and, unfortunately for Stephan, Connie heard what he said.

"You stupid dick head!" She screamed as she swung a well aimed punch right at Stephan's temples, but Sienna seemed to have a good reaction and quickly grabbed Connie's fist and slammed it against the side of the elevator, the noise echoed all around, and started the creep Sienna, Junan, Stephan and Jess out. By the time they arrived at the ground floor, Stephan and Connie's relationship was as good as over, but Stephan had completely fallen for Sienna, and was seriously loved up.

Connie ran off to the hospital building on campus to see if her knuckles were ok. Jess, Junan, Stephan and Sienna, walked out of the room block, but Sienna had to head to the gym to do some exercise, "See you later, Sienna," Junan and Jess said together.

"Yeah, um...B-b-bye" Stephan stuttered.

"You know you two," she pointed at Junan and Stephan, "you and my brother Robert, would get along, really well, he likes to cause trouble, a lot."

"We might just have to meet him then," grinned Junan. Then they waved goodbye.

"Stephan, dude, could you make it any more obvious that you wanna make babies with her?" Jess laughed.

"She's so cute though, do you reckon I'm in with a chance?" He asked Jess, nervously

"Yeah, probably, she likes boys just like you Stephan." Jess grinned.

"Yeah, you jammy little git, you'll snog her at least once anyway, lucky you, might even get her top off as well, it'd be good if you did though, she had _huge_ tits." Junan laughed. But then Jess swatted him over the head, "Ouch, babe, I was only joking."

"I don't care, why were you looking at them anyway? What's the matter with mine?" Jess said.

"Oh nothing, yours are lovely," Junan winked at Jess then she burst out laughing and hugged him. Junan was back in her good books.


	6. Chapter 6: Talk To Zara

**Chapter 6**

Stephan gently tapped his fist against the chairwoman's door; they heard a voice from inside. "Come in," Stephan pulled the handle and as well as Zara in her office there was a tall bald man.

"Hey John," said Jess politely, "sorry Zara, we can wait outside if you want."

"Oh no, it's ok, John was just showing me a mission briefing for a couple of agents." Zara smiled, "oh John, I don't think you've met a new agents, have you? This," She gestured towards Stephan, "is Stephan Roberts, and this is Junan Jacobs, but don't get too used to the last names, because that's why they're here, as you know, every CHERUB does it."

Junan and Stephan both looked extremely confused. They looked at each other, to see if the other knew the answer, but neither of them did. "Every CHERUB has to change their last names, because you're name at the moment is on record within the government, and this can be dangerous on missions since a lot of your targets will have access to this information, and find out a lot about you, and this can cause a lot of problems, such as: CHERUB being discovered, you being injured, or even, you being killed." John explained. Junan and Stephan now realised it all. "Anyway, see you guys." John waved. Everyone waved back at him.

"Right you three take a seat," Zara said, and everyone did so, they sat in front of Zara's desk, the chairwoman continued with the protocol, "right, before we do anything, you two have to sign here," Junan and Stephan follow this instruction and both signed identical pieces of paper. "Right, now you two, you have sworn to secrecy about CHERUB, you guys may need these," Zara handed them both orange t-shirts, and they slid them on over the top of the t-shirts they were wearing at the moment. "I hope you two understand, but while wearing this, I'll have to ask you not to talk to any other CHERUBs, you're only aloud to talk to me or Jess." Both of the recruits nodded wilfully. "Before we can welcome as a full time CHERUB agent, there's 5 tests you must complete."

"What are these tests? They're sort of an initiation, aren't they? Like a test of skill?" Questioned Junan.

"Yeah, pretty much, if you pass them, we can formally invite you to CHERUB." Zara answered. "These 5 tests include: A fight with a CHERUB agent, a maths test, this one, isn't particularly my favourite but it must be done, you have to kill a chicken, then you must do a height test, to check you're not afraid of heights." Junan had a rush of nausea as he heard this, that's the one thing he didn't tell anyone, he had a massive fear of heights. "And the last one is just a simple swimming test."

"Shouldn't be too bad," Stephan said thinking back on what Zara just told them.

"Yeah, not a problem," Junan said uneasily. He really wasn't looking forward to the height test.


	7. Chapter 7: Junan's Tests

**Chapter 7**

Zara, Jess, Junan and Stephan paced down the corridor. There was a deadly silence about them, but it was broken by Zara "You guys feeling nervous?"

"Well, yeah, half and half, I'm pretty sure I can handle the tasks." Junan replied, he was scared, but he was also excited about the prospect of being a secret agent, he'd always wanted to be one since he was 3 years old.

"What about you Steph?" Jess grinned.

"Yeah, I think I'll get through it fine." Stephan replied half heartedly.

"Dude, in the fight, you're so totally screwed." Junan laughed, "We always used to fight with each other, and I always owned his face."

A set of automated doors glided open upon the four people's arrival. They walked out towards a set of golf buggies. Jess and Junan climbed into the one behind Stephan and Zara and the set off, round a series of roads winding round the most beautiful buildings Junan and Stephan ever saw. They went round a corner and there was a huge building Junan couldn't take his eyes off. "Ah I see you like the mission preparation building then." Jess said as she noticed Junan staring at it. "Whenever we get missions, we have to go up there to get briefed, the staff everyone get's on with work in there, John Jones, you met him earlier, he works in there, Ewart Asker, Zara's husband, he works in there, Chloe Blake, these are just some of the mission controllers who work in there." A couple more minutes of looking at the buildings pass went by, and then they came round to a huge Japanese style building, and they were heading right for it. "Ah yeah, here we are, the dojo." Junan looked confused. "Right, yeah, this is where your first test will be held, the fight."

They clambered out of the buggies and headed towards the dojo's front doors. They then walked through the building; it had large brown walls, and mats that look like they have taken quite a beating over the course of a few years. They walked through another room, quite similar to the one they had just walked through, except in this one, there were kids being slammed into the floor, and people being beaten from the left, right and centre. "See all these locks that hurt a hell of a lot?" Zara asked, Junan and Stephan nodded, "Everyone here knows how to do them, and so will you if you pass the tests, just stay in the good books of Miss Takeda, the teacher, if you don't, she'll rip your heart out through your knees." They passed through a door, and there was a kid standing there.

"Robert?" Jess said, very shocked.

"I've told you once Jess, I'll tell you again, my name is ROB! Oh when you next see her, please tell Sienna she left her mobile in my room when we were arguing." Rob said.

"Jess, Stephan, outside please, just me, Junan and Robert in here." Zara asked nicely. Stephan and Jess followed their instruction obediently. As soon as she heard the door click shut Zara turned towards the two kids left in the room. "You two both know, this is an initiation fight, just some ground rules, no attacking the testicular area what so ever and no eye gouging but everything else is fine, okay?" Zara handed Junan and Rob both gum shields and they both place them in their mouths "Okay, first to win 5 times wins, and you can submit by saying the words 'submit' or tapping the mat. If a player submits, you must not have any physical contact with them until the next round starts. The first round will start when I say start. 3... 2... 1... Start!"

Rob dived straight into Junan, Junan hit the floor behind him, and Rob was on top of him. Junan saw this move in films hundreds of times, he could see no reason why it should fail, so he tried it. He swung his legs catching Rob in the bum, and sent him sprawling about a metre away from they landed. Junan had a moment of pride before seeing his foe crawl back off the floor. Junan ran up to him and aimed a punch at Rob's nose, but Rob was too quick and grabbed the fist, and twisted it behind Junan's back, Junan yelped, Rob then swiped Junan's feet from right underneath him and he plummeted to the floor. Junan landed in a funny position and was close to losing consciousness, then he saw Rob sit on him, and punch square in the nose, Junan felt the blood trickle down his cheek, Rob turned him onto his front and he noticed the once blue mat was now a very dark red. "I Submit" he mumbled. He couldn't believe he almost got killed in 10 seconds flat. Rob let go instantly and stood up. Junan struggled up, and staggered around to face Rob, he wiped the back of his hand against his nose and cheek, he just saw a massive amount of blood, but he wouldn't let it ruin his chance of a better life, and gave Zara a nod.

"3... 2... 1... Fight!" Rob charged at Junan again, smacking him right on the tip of his nose, Rob took his fist away and looked at it, it was covered in Junan's blood, and Junan could feel tonnes of it now, it wasn't a trickle on his face anymore, the blood was flooding down his face, he could feel it go into his mouth, down his neck, he looked at his shirt, it was soaking it thick and fast. Junan had had enough; he took Rob while he wasn't expecting it. He grabbed Rob's shoulders and brought a knee up into his stomach, Rob coughed upon impact and a mix of sick and blood dribbled out his mouth. Junan then punched him at the bottom of his cheek next to his chin, and Rob just collapsed into a heap on the floor. Junan had always lashed out when he was angry, but he never thought he'd beat up a highly trained intelligence agent. Junan sat on him and whispered in his ear, "If you don't withdraw, I'll break your neck next time." But Rob had been taught not to give in to threats and just tapped the mat. They both got up, and faced each other; Zara asked if any of them wanted to withdraw from the fight, but neither would let the other win, resulting in another round of this merciless death match.

After Zara had done the countdown for round 3 and the two boys weren't thinking about not letting the other hit them, they were now focused on making the other submit. Junan got flipped and smashed headfirst into the mat, but then he used his legs to squeeze Rob's legs together causing him to topple, then Junan got on him punching him in the face, he was so busy hitting Rob he didn't notice Rob's fist swinging up and hitting him hard in the temple. Junan fell of Rob, he felt something warm in the corner of his eye. He wiped it, to find he had blood coming out of there. Junan had had enough of Rob's merciless beating and punched him in the stomach, Rob retaliated with a swing of his legs knocking Junan clean off him and sent him sliding across the mat. Rob walked over to him and stood above him with a look that meant something like _The cleaners will be picking bits of you off the floor if you don't withdraw now._ Zara rushed over to the scene and Junan managed to mumble out "I withdraw."

Rob put his hand out to help Junan up, "No hard feelings, eh?" He handed Junan a tissue "Big bits up each nostril, it'll stop the bleeding."

Junan grabbed the hand and Rob pulled him up "Nah, none what so ever, I only smashed your face in so I could be a CHERUB, thanks" he laughed as he shoved tissue up his nostrils.

"Would you like a break before the next test, or do you want to go straight into it?" Zara asked with extreme kindness

"No thanks Zara, straight in please." Junan said determinedly.

Zara led Junan back outside to the buggies. "Junan, is that what happens in the fight?" Stephan asked now sounding less confident about it.

"That Rob dude is a hell of a lot stronger than he looks." Laughed Junan as he climbed into a buggy with Zara.

"You two in the one behind," Zara said. And she set off towards the main building. When they arrived Junan recognised the sculpture of a glass globe with a baby sat on it and CHERUB across the middle, it was identical to the one on his orange t-shirt. Zara took him into a little room, near the entrance. Stephan and Jess had been asked to wait outside yet again. "Right this is just a usual English and Maths test, so don't worry too much about it. Its forty minutes long from when you pick up that pencil. Start when you're ready."

Junan got a grip on his pencil, then he turned the page to the first page of the exam. It all looked pretty simple in his eyes, but like all tests, he now realised, it got harder as it went on. He was quite good at Maths and English though, so it wasn't the hardest thing in the world for him.

He had a quick skim though it before he told Zara that he'd finished just to make sure there was no silly mistakes. "Finished!" He announced proudly. Zara came and picked up the test, she gave it a quick flick through. "Seems as though you've done pretty well, we'll get our professional to mark it properly though." Zara led him out of the door; she wandered over to the receptionist.

The receptionist took the paper with a smile on her face "Thank-you," she said. "I'll walk it over to the examiner now." As she said this, the receptionist stood up and walked out the front door.

"Okay, now let's head for my office." Zara said already starting to walk towards her office door. Junan went inside and got offered a seat in front of Zara's desk, he noticed a bird cage on the table when he walked in containing a, what looked like, a fully grown chicken. Zara sat behind the cage. "Not my favourite test, I must admit but it still has to be done. What I want you to do is, take the chicken out of the cage, and kill it."

Junan looked really shocked, "You actually want me to kill the bird? How, do I wring his neck, or what?" Junan asked, he had a touch of nerves in his voice, he didn't think he could bring himself to kill anything. Zara handed him a pen. "So I stab it?"

"Just below the skull." Junan wanted to be a CHERUB more than anything, but killing something was asking too much of him. Zara had a very stern look on her face, it creeped Junan out a bit. He just placed then pen against the chickens neck and the chicken went nuts flapping out and pecking wildly at Junan's hands. He put pressure down on the birds neck, the bird went wild.

He pulled the pen away, "I can't do it." He placed the chicken back into the cage and twisted the locks. "I can't and I won't." Zara gave Junan and very disappointed look, Junan thought he'd blown it, so he re-opened the cage, grabbed the pen, and pulled the chicken out.

*

The drive to the swimming pool was nowhere near as long as the drive to the dojo, they arrived after about a minute of driving. "We have four swimming pools here, but we're using one that isn't being used at the moment." They walked through the front door and through another door and Junan laid his eyes on the biggest swimming pool he's ever seen. His mouth formed an O and Zara looked round and laughed. "We often get, 'this is the biggest pool ever.' But yeah, this is the second biggest one we have, anyway, over to the deep end, you might want to take note of the depths, they'll help in this challenge." Junan felt relieved, it'll clear off the chicken blood if he stays in the water.

They were stood at the end of the pool, "You see that bag over there?" Zara asked, Junan nodded. "Well, you have got to get that bag, on to the side here, you have 7 minutes from when any part of you touches the body. Any electrical items, please place on the bench behind us now, because, Junan, my love, are going into the water fully clothed. Start in your own time."

Junan walked over to the bench and placed his new phone on there. He turned around and sprinted, he bombed into the water, and headed straight down for the bag. He opened his eyes, he saw the bag about a metre in front of him. He kicked as hard as he could; Junan wrapped his arms around the bag and tried pulling it back to the surface but the bag wouldn't budge, Junan panicked. He would drown if he didn't get back up to the surface, but he'd done so well, so far. Just then he had a thought _Zara never said the bag and contents had to come up together._ He tried opening the top, but it was shut tight. So he decided to bite the side to make a hole big enough to rip open. He took out the contents, they were kilogram weights, he took two up to the surface. When he broke the surface he gasped for air and placed the weights on the side. Zara broke into a huge grin. "Well, you know what you could do, now get back down there, you have 5 minutes left." Junan turned and zoomed down as fast as his legs would let him. 3 minutes later, he'd brought up all the weights but one. Junan turned back and grabbed the last weight and the bag, but the bag wouldn't move, he inspected the bottom of the bag and he found it had little metal chains keep it down. He tried pulling them as hard as he could, but they stayed strong, he tried hitting the weight against them, but the water pressure caused it to have no effect. He looked at the bit of thread keeping the chains on, but Junan hooked it under his feet and used his arms to swim up. It was moving, just very slowly, Junan was running low on breath now, he wanted to sleep, but he knew if he would, he would never wake up. He gave it one last pull and it snapped, it bent down, grabbed the bag and pulled himself back to the surface. "20 seconds left, well done Junan, I thought you died for a moment there though." Junan just sat on the edge for a moment, catching his breath.

"How many times today am I going to nearly die, I nearly got killed by a muscley dude, then I nearly drowned. I swear to god, if I nearly fall off this height obstacle, I will just jump." Junan smiled.

Zara laughed, but went scarily stern, "You should never joke about dying Junan, it's not something to be laughed at, it's something we all face. Anyway up you jump; we're heading to the height course."

"Oh Jesus, heights are not my thing, haven't I done enough to get a place in CHERUB." Junan said slightly annoyed.

"I'm afraid not, C'mon with me, to the buggy." Zara said, Junan turned around walked to the bench and grabbed his phone and ran up to Zara.

"So what happens after I finished the tests?" Junan asked Zara.

"Well, if you fail, we shove you in the back of a van and take you back to your care home, and if you pass, we say you have two days to come to an decision, and we shove you in the back of a van and take you back to your care home anyway. Or you can come to a decision on the spot, but we advise that you go back for a couple of days." Zara smiled.

"Oh okay, well, time to get on with the last task then?" Junan asked as he jumped into the buggy  
"Yeah, let's go." Zara said and she started to drive.

*

As soon as Junan laid eyes on the obstacle course his heart felt like it stopped. "And I'm going to have to climb over this and everything? I'm totally screwed."

"Junan, just do it, I've got some friends who will help you if you want?" Zara said, Junan nodded unsurely. "James, Bruce, your needed, get out here now!" One tall but slightly stocky blonde 16 to 17 year old walked out, and another was a smaller kid who looked more about 15 to 16.

"Up the ladder, now!" The older one said as he forced Junan up the ladder behind the other kid. He saw Junan turn his head to look at him "If you look down, you'll fall, keep going up, look up, not down." Junan followed the ladder, he knew he was high up, he just wanted to know how high, he was petrified, he thought he couldn't move on, but the blonde kid kept pushing him back up. With 3 people on it, the robe ladder shook like crazy, which increased Junan's fear so much that this was as scared as he's ever been. They all got to the top of the ladder, "Right, Junan, slide across a pole, the sweat on Junan's hands made them slippery, if he couldn't hold on, he would fall.

"Umm, James, Bruce, are there nets below us? 'Cos my hands are slipping." As he said this his hands let go, but his legs clung on, and he tightened the grip, he could feel the beads of sweat falling from his forehead.

"I got you, nearly there now, just hold on" James said as he pushed Junan's back up so he could grab the bar with his arms. He reached the other side, and dropped onto a little plank. By now, like it probably would, hanging 15 metres above ground with no netting kind of gets Junan kind of used to the height. So he just ran and jumped over the gap, he landed firmly on the plank over the edge.

"Holy crap, did I just do that?" he sounded shocked. Bruce turned around and nodded. Junan gripped the next ladder tight in his hands and started to climb. Thinking about it, Junan decided he couldn't bare going up higher, and needed encouragement.

Luckily James decided it would be the right time for it "Come on Junan, not far left, you can do it." Junan started to climb a bit quicker, he needed to catch up with Bruce. He jumped up onto a plank, and they walked along a couple more planks, Junan tried to look down, "Junan, don't be thick." James laughed, "20 metres above ground, looking down is not the cleverest thing to do, is it?"

"Guys, shut up a second," Bruce yelled back at them, they fell silent, standing still, they heard the planks creaking, "They're not supposed to do this, they're gonna..." The plank James was standing on snapped right beneath his feet, he started to fall, but Junan grabbed his hand, and nearly got pulled off by the weight.

"BRUCE, GET TO SAFER GROUND!" Junan yelled back at him.

Junan could see the ground now, he was scared out of his wits, he could see Zara, horrified. "Wait there, I'll get help!" Zara yelled at them.

"No need!" Junan yelled back, and he started pulling James back up onto the planks, as he got James back up onto the surface, he saw a massive gash on his leg, and Junan looked at his stomach, the sharp edge of the wood had left a clean slice in it. "Oh, Jesus, it's not too deep, I'll be fine," he said aloud to himself, "BRUCE! Get over here! Help me get James to the platform." Bruce rushed over and took James' legs. They managed to get to the thicker planks. "Dude, you okay?" Junan asked.

"Ow, yeah, I'll be good, you got a course to finish, go on, Bruce, you too, I'll phone the medical centre, I have the phone in my pocket still." James pulled out his phone and dialled. Junan and Bruce carried on.

"Junan, with what you just did there, you do know you're definitely in CHERUB now, right?" Bruce laughed, Junan broke into the biggest grin ever. Bruce sprinted ahead and jumped the one and a half metre gap like he was a bunny just doing a simple hop.

Junan looked over it, "I can't do this!" He yelled.

"Sure you can, just take a few steps back and sprint and jump, no problem!" Bruce yelled back, Junan followed these instructions. He placed a foot on the place the other side, but it slipped off.

"Oh shit!" He yelled as he grabbed it with his hands and pulled himself up. "God, I nearly shat myself." Junan laughed.

"Another repeat of James again," Bruce laughed, "Anyway, time to jump off."

Junan gasped "WHAT?! I am not jumping off here, no way, oh crap, I'm gonna hurl." Junan turned around and puked over the edge.

"It's fine, just kick off, and you hit the crash mat, won't hurt a bit." Bruce grinned and paused, he grinned again. "oh yeah, if you land wrong, or don't kick off, you'll break your leg."

Junan coughed up again, he had some blood in it left over from the fight. "Dude you got to be joking, those branches will kill me."

"No, they'll sting, but you'll be fine, just hit the crash mat." As he said this, Bruce turned and run and jumped. "Clear!" he yelled from the bottom. Junan took a deep breath, he started running, but he stopped at the edge.

"Oh crap, I can't do this." He exclaimed to himself, but he had a thought of CHERUB, he had to do this, he walked back about two metres, he sprinted, he kicked off. He felt about 50 branches whip him in the legs, arms, stomach, chest, back, and face. "Oh Shit!" He yelled as loud as his voice would let him. THUD!

He hit the mat, but just the edge, his arm made a disgusting crunching sound. "Oh My God!" He screamed, and Bruce sprinted over to him.

"Oh fuck! It's broken!" he saw a care taker and yelled at him for help. And take him to the nurses office.

*

He was sat in Zara's office, with his arm in plaster and a massive graze across his cheek, and a bandage around his stomach. "That last one wasn't your test was it. But I must say, you did risk your life to help James, that's put you through without everything else. But you also slashed your cheek on a branch, and landed on your arm and broke it, poor you. But I can formally invite you too CHERUB, would you like some time to think about it?"

"No thank-you, I would like to accept your invitation straight away!" Junan beamed happily.

"Sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay, Welcome To Cherub Junan Jacobs, oh by the way, you need to change your last name, something that matches your ethic origin." Zara remembered.

"Oh, a boy in my class had a name that I really would have like, would Junan Collins be okay?"

"Welcome To Cherub Junan Collins."


End file.
